Trolley-base.



G. E. GIERDING.

TROLLEY BASE.

APPLIUATION FILED AUG. 14, 1908.

Patented July 20, 1909.

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awueutoz Patented July 20, 1909.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oEEroE.

CHARLES E. GIERDING, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO STERLING-MEAKER COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

TROLLEY-LBASE.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 14, 1908.

Patented July 20, 1909.

Serial No. 448,507.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES E. GIEEDING, a citizen of the United States of America,

and a resident of Newark, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Im rovement in Trolley-Bases, of which the fol owing is a specification.

This invention is additional to the improvement in trolley bases set forth in my specification forming part of United States Letters Patent No. 802160, dated October 17, 1905, and relates therewith to the construction of bases for trolley poles adapted to be attached to the roofs of trolley cars and to render the poles swiveled, folding and self-elevating with reference to the top of the car.

The leading object of the present invention is to provide a trolley base of the type set forth in said patent specification with a cushion stop of novel construction adapted to operate in connection with the lowdown spring-supporting strut and the lower extremities of the downwardly projecting pole-carrying fork and other parts of said patented trolley base. Heretofore the lower extremities of the pole-carrying fork of said patented trolley base, hereinafter termed the pole fork, were stopped against lugs cast on the cap or turret which incloses the roller bearings of the main pivot or stem, and when dewirement took place under considerable tension, the sudden stopping of the pole fork would some times bend or even break the pole. The substitution of the cushion stop frees said patented trolley base from this objection, and is readily and effectively accomplished according to the present improvement.

The present invention consists in certain novel combinations of parts, hereinafter set forth and claimed, and in an improved trolley base embodying the same or any of them.

Two sheets of drawings accompany this specification as parts thereof.

Figure 1. is a top view of the improved trolley base with its pole fork erect; Fig. is a side view projected from Fig. 1 with the tensile springs on the near side removed; Fig. 3 is a top view partly in section on the line A-B, Fig. 2; Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views of the buffer fork of the cushion stop device, detached; Figs. 6 and 7 are detail views of the buffer spring detached; and

Fig. '8 re resents an axial vertical section through t e turret and roller bearing.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in all the figures.

In common with the parts of said patented trolley base, the base proper or base i late,

a, is a nearly flat casting with bolt ho es, 1,

2 3 and l, which provide for bolting it to the roof of the car in a customary way; it is provided at its center with a hollow cylindrical standard or stem, 5, the periphery of which, together with an annular step, 6, at its base, is adapted to support longitudinal antifriction rolls, 7, as in Figs. 3 and 8, and further provided with sockets or couplings, 8 and 9, which may be of any improved form, as means for connecting the trolley base with the conductors leading to the motor. The base plate is further provided with a stiffening flange, 10, on its bottom concentric with said stem 5. The electric contact is between the top of said stem 5 and the inside top of the turret, and is steady, constant and protected against grit and weather.

The cap or turret, l), which incloses the roller bearing as aforesaid, is also constructed as in said patented trolley base in the form of an inverted on having a transverse horizontal pivot soc cet, 11, at or near its top and a subjacent horizontal or substantially horizontal strut socket, 12, at right angles to said pivot socket and substantially perpendicular to thevertical axis of the turret; but said pivot socket 11 is preferably and conveniently located at the front of the turret in the improved construction, and a pair of guides, 12 and 12, are formed at the sides of said strut socket 12; the outer lateral surfaces of said guides being parallel with each other and as wide apart as the sides of the turret. The turret l) is held in place longitudinally against accidental displacement, as in the patented. trolley base, by an axial bolt, 13, extending through the chamber of the hollow stem 5; but in the improved construction this bolt preferably interacts with a nut,

, 13, Within a recess at the top of the turret, which is covered by a cap )late, a.

The pole fork, d, is also, as in sai )atented trolley base, pivoted. to said turret F by a horizontal pivot, 14, fitted to the said. transverse socket 11 of the turret and to pivot holes in the respective sides of the fork; and these sides of the fork are extended beyond their pivot holes and project in the normal position of the parts downward to the lane of said strut socket 12, and are providec at what are herein termed their lower extremities with laterally projecting wrist pins, 15, 16, parallel with said horizontal pivot 14, and with buffer surfaces, 17, 18; the latter, of any ap proved form, being located in the improved structure at the rear edges of the fork, as best shown in Fig. 2. A tie brace, 19, Fig. 3, preferably and conveniently connects the fork ends with each other in front of the turret 6, being so formed as to be at all times out of contact with the turret in the working condition of the improved trolley base. The pole socket, 20, 21, is also preferably, as heretofore, bisected longitudinally, and its cap or clamp, 21, is held in place by bolts, 22, passing through perforated lugs on the respective parts and the front of the socket is conveniently provided with a staple, 20. Across bar, 0, parallel with said horizontal pivot 14 and said wrist pins, 15, 16, is supported as heretofore by a central strut, f, of metallic tubing or pi e,- one end of the strut occuying said soc ret 12 at the back of the turret ll, within which it is seated, and its other end a like socket within a central boss, 23, on the cross bar.

The extremities of the cross bar 6 are provided as heretofore with holes through which the screw-threaded shanks of a pair of double hooks, g and h, extend; and each of said shanks is provided with a pair of nuts, 24 and 25, behind the cross bar, to provide for the longitudinal adjustment of the hooks and for securely locking them in their ad justed positions. Stretched from said double hooks g and 7b, respectively, to the respective wrist pins 15 and 16 of the pole fork d, as heretofore, are two pairs of tensile springs, i and j, which in the improved construction are preferably of rod steel so coiled as to form conical ends, within which the shanks of coupling eyes, 26 and 27, are securely held; the eyes of each spring embracing respectively the adjoining wrist pin, 15 or 16, and one pf the hooks of the opposing double hook g or L.

Both ends of the strut f in the improved construction are seated within closed sockets, and an axial tie-bolt, 7c, extends through the cross bar 6 lengthwise of the strut f into a tapped hole, 23, in the turret casting, as shown in Fig. 3. The other parts of the cushion stop device are a buffer fork, Zm, shown detached by l? igs. 4 and 5, and a buffer spring, n, shown detached by Figs. 6 and 7. Said buffer fork has at one end a central sleeve portion (Z) which embraces said strut f and is slidable thereon, and a long bifurcated portion (m), the respective extremities of which, 17 and 18, interact with said buffer surfaces 17 and 18 of the pole fork. Compare Figs. 2 and 3. w The buffer spring a is preferably and conveniently of helically coiled rod steel, and embraces the strutf between the inner ends of said sleeve ortion Z of the buffer fork, and said central boss of the cross bar 0, 23. Normally, when the trolley wheel is in contact with the overhead wire, as well as when the trolley pole is pulled down fiat upon the top of the car or as occasion may require, the buffer surfaces 17 and 18 are out of contact with said extremities 17 and 18 of the buffer fork Z-m, and the buffer spring a is free from tension. When dewirement occurs, said buffer surfaces 17 and 18 come into contact with said extremities 17 and 18 of the buffer fork Z-m, and the buffer spring n is comressed between said sleeve portion Z of the huffer fork and said boss 23 of the cross bar 0, and serves to cushion the strain, so that no injury to any of the parts of the trolley base is likely to result.

That end of the improved trolley base and of each of its parts shown at the left in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 is herein termed the front end.

The improved trolley base may obviously have any preferred form and number of tensile s rings the buffer spring may likewise be volbte or of any other preferred form; and other like modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described said improvement, I claim as my invention and desire to patent under this specification:

1. A trolley base having, in combination, a base plate constructed with a vertical roller-bearing stem, a turret pivotally mounted on said stem inclosing its roller bearing and constructed with a transverse pivot socket on its front at top and a strut socket substantially at right angles to said pivot socket on its back at bottom, a downwardly projecting pole fork pivoted to said turret at said pivot socket and having wrist pinsand buffer surfaces near its lower extremities, a tubular strut seated in said strut socket, a cross bar having a central boss socketed to admit the rear end of said strut, a tie-bolt axial to said strut connecting said turret and cross bar, tensile springs stretched between said cross bar and said wrist pins, a bufier spring embracing said strut and seated on said cross-bar boss, and a buffer fork slidable on said strut in contact with said buffer spring, straddling said turret in the plane of said strut socket and interacting by its bifurcated end with said buffer surfaces of the pole fork.

2. The combination, in a trolley base, of a vertical stem, a turret pivotally mounted on said stem, a pole fork pivoted to said'turret by a horizontal ivot and having clownwardly projecting ifurcations provided with buffer surfaces, a strut projecting rearwardly from said turret, a cross bar supported by the rear end of said strut, connections including tensile springs between said cross bar and said pole fork, a buifer spring embracing said strut and seated on said cross bar, and a buffer fork having a sleeve portion slidable on said strut in contact With said buffer spring and bifurcations arranged to interact With said buffer surfaces of the pole fork.

3. The combination, in a trolley base, of a vertical stem, a turret pivotally mounted on said stem, a pole fork pivoted to said turret by a horizontal ivot and having down- Wardly projecting bifurcations provided with buffer surfaces, a tubular strut projecting rearwardly from said turret, a cross bar sup ported by the rear end of said strut, a tie bolt extending lengthwise through said strut and connecting said turret and cross bar, connections including tensile springs between said cross bar and said pole for a buffer spring embracing said strut and seated on said cross bar, and a buffer fork having a sleeve portion slidable on said strut in contact With said bufi'er spring and bifurcations arranged to interact with said buifer surfaces of the pole fork, substantially as hereinbefore specified.

CHARLES E. GIERDING.

Wi tnesses EDWARD LEONARD, ELLA J. LEONARD. 

